Pulling Down the Arms during the Downswing

Hi All.

I play off a 24 handicap at the moment, but have been progressing nicely this year and am shooting around 16-24 over for a round.

The next issue I'm trying to resolve in my swing is that I block my shots (chicken winging!) on the follow through and don't release my arms correctly. I had a lesson a week ago or so and my instructor told me I need to pull the arms down during the downswing and that will allow my arms to release correctly, which ultimately will improve a lot of technical parts to my swing.

I've been trying to implement this, but just can't grasp it. When attempting it, I'll either chunk the ground, hit it thin or my grip will loosen and therefore contact is poor. I almost feel mentally that there's not enough room for the club to swing towards the ball, if that makes sense.

My question is; How did you go about implementing this into your swing? Do you have any drills that you would recommend on this?

Are you pulling with the left arm?

You have entered one of the great debates about how to "start down" from the top of your backswing.

Two primary groups: Kick the hips forward VS. Drop the hands / arms.

Kick the hips emphasizes getting your weight moving forward into the shot. Drop the hands emphasizes taking up the slack in your arms, to prevent you from firing your hands too quickly (maintains lag and avoids flipping). This moves firing the hands from chest level down to hip level.

You really need both movements, so I'm not sure to tell you what to do. I've heard both arguments, but I'm still a 25 HDCP. If a pro is going with problem solution rather than dogma, the pro will probably suggest the one that will help the student overcome a primary swing flaw.

A pro I worked with a couple of years ago emphasized drop the hands , which did cure my over-the top (and occasional chicken wing). He had me do some drills related to hand drop. In one two-part drill, I would take the club back to waist level, and then return it to address position. Do it 20 times. Then I would go to waist, return to address, and then take the club to the top.

In a related drill, I would swing the club to the top, pull downward twice, and then pull down all the way and hit a shot. This both took up the slack in the arms, and got me moving forward.

For your interim problem (fat and thin misses) , make sure you are keeping your head and spine angle steady. (Maybe iacas will comment on this.) When I first started my "pull down," I was dipping my shoulders and head slightly, causing fat hits. You don't want your head and spine angle to be so rigid you choke off motion through the ball, but bobbing up and down will move the bottom point of your swing forward and backward, leading to thin and fat shots.

Some instructors complain that drop the hands leads to a two-lever swing (arms and hands, but not much leg-hip), rather than a more powerful three-lever swing (add in increased leg-hip power). But, a full, accurate three-lever swing - in my experience associated with hip-kick move - seems to require a lot more practice for people like me of modest athletic ability.

Also, overall fitness and flexibility has been shown to influence power and momentum in your golf swing. I've been neglecting back-flexibility exercises lately, may be why I'm getting stuck on back foot sometimes.

Arms will fall down during the swing, you might need to get the right elbow down quicker, But do this slowly, very slowly to get the movement. Post your swing, and lets see whats wrong.

I find that I need to swing my arms aggressively. People say they just turn and the arms go along for the ride but show me a pro that does that without actively driving the arms and hands down.

I find it helpful to think about keeping my hands close to my body on the down swing.  It goes with the drop the arms and helps you bring it inside.  Think Jim Furyk as an extreme example.

any chance you can post a video, could be a few things... i would guess the the left shoulder is doing while #4 and #1 are releasing... if it starts to pull away from the wall or shoot up to soon you won't be able to release #4 and #1 and will cause you to dump your wrist angles to get the club head to the ball.

This is the drill I do.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2012-01/zach-johnson-downswing-drills

I think it all depends on your particular issue. I once pulled all the time. I am a natural lefty who plays righty, and I wanted to pull -- it's much easier. But in the long run, it did not help me.

If I think arms, guess what, the downswing is all arms and poor, thin contact.

If I think body, it's knees, hips, shoulders, arms, and decent contact.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Will try out some of the tips posted above & also try that drill Birdie posted.

Been meaning to post a video up of my swing on the other forum, hopefully next time I'm at the range

I try not to think, my best shots are when its just automatic. I do agree, if i think hands i will hit way before the ball. For me i really got to practice a move and then hopefully it sticks in the swing.

Believe me, I don't want to think. But 15 years of hands/arms is a habit that's tough to break unless you say, "body, body, body." Just don't say it loud with young girls around you, or you'll get "perv, perv, perv."

Just a quick update people..

Went for 9 holes last night and implemented this into my swing and shot a +6! I was actually -1 after 3 holes and the +6 included a triple on 1 hole. Not sure what's happened in the last few weeks, but my scores have tumbled so much from just a small few tweaks. Obviously it was only over 9 holes which you can't read into too much, but my best on 9 before that was +11.

Golf is so rewarding when you feel you're really making some progress

The very best drill to learn how to release your hands and arms is to swing with your left arm only. What you will learn is that you cannot continue to pull your arms through the shot or you will never release the clubhead (hence chicken wing ). Your arms actually have to to decelerate at impact and transfer the energy to your hands which will release the clubhead. If you just continue pulling your arms through the shot you will see how that creates the "chicken wing". It is one of the very best drills for golf and when you can hit shots with only swinging with your left arm-- you will learn to release the club correctly and it will change a lot of other feels in the swing. Good luck and stay with it until you can hit good shots with only the left arm. Do not quite because it is hard. But you should eventually be able to hit shots with each arm individually. In so doing teaches what each arm does in the swing. Scott

I know exactly what you mean.  I used to struggle to do it too but my strikes have improved since I started getting it right.  Keep at it.  One thing to stop the chicken wing is to pop a towel under the arm pit and not let it come out in the backswing.  This teaches you to keep the elbow down and get the lead arm crossing over.  It gets you in the better arm position to pull down and lag the wrists.  Don't just pull though, you may be forgetting to swing into the path of the ball from the inside.

Keep the flying elbow in, lag and swing through on the inside line and fire the wrists into contract.  Try that mate, works for me.